What's a student-staffed writing center?
A student-staffed writing center is a place where high school writers work with each other in an effort to develop ideas, discover a thesis, overcome procrastination, create an outline, or revise a draft. Ultimately, writing centers help students become more effective writers. Writing centers come in all shapes and sizes; some WCenters have big budgets and their own rooms while others operate out of the back of a teacher's classroom or in the back corner of the library/media center. All WCenters have the potential to improve writing at a high school. Join SSWCA today!
What One School Principal Says
"I am most excited about student-run writing centers because I think they can have a transformative effective in schools. Writing centers have the potential for changing writing in schools. By its very existence, a writing center provides a place where writing can be very visible in a school. A writing center can change the nature of student writing throughout the school. It may be too early to tell, yet I expect that [a school's writing center] will encourage its teachers to include more student writing among their performance tasks. A writing center creates a place where stages of the writing process, such as drafting and revising, can be honored... [it's not] a place for remediation but a forum for critical parts of the writing process." —Dave Goldfarb, Principal, Fairfax HS, Fairfax County Public School, VA
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Why have a student-staffed WCenter? Click to enlarge.
"Maybe in a perfect world, all writers would have their own ready auditor—a teacher, a classmate, a roommate, an editor—who would not only listen but draw them out, ask them questions they would not think to ask themselves. A writing center is an institu-tional response to this need." —Stephen North
“The Idea of a Writing Center” Welcome to the world of WCenters! |
Join SSWCA!
The Secondary School Writing Centers Association (SSWCA) exists to build community among, promote advocacy for, and develop resources to be shared among secondary school writing and peer tutoring centers, their directors, and their tutors. SSWCA hosts an annual conference dedicated specifically to the work of secondary school writing and peer tutoring centers. Whether you’re exploring the possibility of starting a center in your school or you’re a seasoned director, SSWCA provides opportunities for you to collaborate and connect with dedicated and passionate directors who are eager to empower young people through student-run writing centers.
The Secondary School Writing Centers Association (SSWCA) exists to build community among, promote advocacy for, and develop resources to be shared among secondary school writing and peer tutoring centers, their directors, and their tutors. SSWCA hosts an annual conference dedicated specifically to the work of secondary school writing and peer tutoring centers. Whether you’re exploring the possibility of starting a center in your school or you’re a seasoned director, SSWCA provides opportunities for you to collaborate and connect with dedicated and passionate directors who are eager to empower young people through student-run writing centers.
